Grandeur of the Seas

Ricky & Jennifer Porter

Age: n/a

Occupation:n/a

Number of Cruises:

Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean

Ship: Grandeur of the Seas

Sailing Date: November 23rd, 2002

Itinerary: Western Caribbean

1st Cruise
Ship: Grandeur of the Seas
2002

There are travelers, tourists and
vacationers. If you are the latter, this cruise is for you. Let me start by
saying we are travelers, and with our cruise curiosity being sated now, we are
not planning another cruise ... unless it's first class and free. That being
said, the following is what we thought of the Grandeur
of the Seas and our cruise experience.

We read the more recent reviews of our ship prior to sailing and brought a small
coffee pot on board. As it turned out, we enjoyed the coffee and we never
unpacked the coffeemaker which remained packed on top of the books.
The coffee could have been either changed by the ship or the other
reviewers must like lame coffee.

The ship was beautiful. We truly enjoyed the aesthetics. The artwork was
plentiful and high quality. I am an artist and I was delighted to wander
around looking at the art. At the end of the cruise, I went back looking for
one of my favorite pieces to get a picture and never did find it. Great
art was everywhere. The boat was very well designed.
We agreed with the other reviewers that the promenade
deck was a great design and the wood decking comfortable and nice looking;
however, we were surprised at how we had the deck all
to ourselves most of the cruise. The decor was tasteful and comfortable all
over. We found space to put everything away in our cabin and
had room to spare. The center atrium was magnificent. She is a pretty
ship in Bristol condition.

We personally did not mind, but there were many complaints from other
passengers about our itinerary. Everybody is a captain! We stopped at
Progreso and Cozumel in Mexico and Key West, FL. Again, we consider
ourselves travelers so we are curious about every place we go. With the
ports of call subject to change, we do not suggest
anyone try to see the world via this form of
transportation. So all you armchair mariners, if you are going to whine about
ports of call, stay home or stay onboard and go play bingo. Weather,
fuel economy and politics can change a heading in a heartbeat. "The
best plan on any boat is no plan at all" sayeth a 14 yr. old,
swamptrash dockbilly in Florida.

We took the Chichen Itza excursion out of Progreso and the box lunch was
terrible. Lots of people do not like tuna fish on cardboard and I happen
to be one of them. We felt gouged by the food on that
tour. It was crap. For the price
of the tour ($98), we had higher hopes for our lunch. Convicts eat
better. We enjoyed our guide and the tour was
great. Likewise the food onboard was nothing to
brag about. The service onboard was great, the food
bit the dust except the desserts. Fire the cook, keep the pastry chef.

The cruising experience in general was relaxing and very enjoyable on a
social level. We enjoy talking to people and we loved nearly everyone we
met onboard. It is a happy, positive experience for
families to dine together without the pressures
of production and clean up. Incidentally, we were
onboard during Thanksgiving week and there were more families than normal.
We enjoyed the kids.

We recommend this cruise from New Orleans, LA or any other cruise out of the
Big Easy as we are partial to New Orleans and Louisiana's. We cannot
imagine how bland and colorless other cruises must be,
after we found the local passengers on this ship
such a highlight on our cruise.